


The Desolation of the Snivy

by HNosredna



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19330819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HNosredna/pseuds/HNosredna
Summary: Jovi the Snivy escaped from a corrupt facility ran by the only remaining humans. Now, he is the subject of questioning by the Expedition Society and many other strangers. Will his friend, Sophie the Fennekin, and the adventuring be the way out of the madness? And will he be ready for when the humans come back for him?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Huh. Long time, no see. It’s been more than 2 months ever since I worked on my previous fanfic: Exception, so what is going on. Well then, I simply grew bored of it and overload from other things. CHP5 never made it besides the first few paragraphs, and things were definitely falling apart. There was the massive overload of school, my robotics team, and my involvement into animation. Couple along that with trying to edit all of the previous chapters and CHP5 and you knew I was going to suffer.
> 
> Looking back it now, it was an alright story. They contain plenty of interactions for the reader and sometimes, interesting scenarios would happen. But after CHP4 was uploaded, I got a critical critique from someone that changed my view into the story. I never realized the errors I made throughout the story. I tried editing the chapters while keeping note of it in CHP5. But midway through CHP1, I was done. I couldn’t handle trying to edit them with the massive workload.
> 
> Fast forward to 4/9, and I want to hopefully continue. But since it was so long since I worked on it, I couldn’t go back to it without falling into deeper holes. In the end, I deleted it. But, I look at the errors of the previous story and I rebuild it in way better story. For example, a better protagonist, shorter story lengths (probably not), and better dialogue. Even though the rewrite may be unnecessary, I feel like it is for the greater good. I’m sorry, but that is the way it is.
> 
> As usual, this may not follow what is actually in Mystery Dungeon due to my lack of expertise in it. Anyway, it is time for the rewrite of Exception, now called Flight.

He was just busy trying to bring equipment to the storage room. He was one of the few allowed inside the room, since his main job was to deliver equipment and store them away whenever not needed. The wheels grind the floor as he exerted force on the cart, hauling away several cans of chemical substances and a ventilator. He had no idea why they needed the ventilator today, but it was fine at the moment. Eventually, he stopped the cart at the titanium door that guarded the storage room.

“ID,” the computer that operated the door asked for. The young man slid out his idea.

“Antin Moore. Access granted,” the computer read before authorizing the door open. Soon enough, he hauled the cart inside the room. The storage room mainly contained medical equipment and medicine. Antin placed the ventilator on a spot in the room before closing the door. Now it was only putting the cart, checking some diagnostics, then it was back to bed in the facility. All according to the schedule he had. The schedule was designated to every human living in the underground facility. Nothing has ever entered and left the facility for several thousands of years. Blame whoever set off the nukes that year.

But yet, whoever decided to take shelter in the facility brought a lot of people with him because 10,000 years later, the facility was still existent with about a thousand living in the confinement. And everyone mattered to keep humanity alive. Due to this, everyone has been assigned a role. Antin’s role was transportation and sometimes, security. No security incident has happened within the facility for more than a year, and Antin didn’t want another one. The last incident involved something going insane after taking the wrong medication. There was definitely complications with him firing the shot and explaining to the family.

To which for now, he has remained within transporting supplies around the facility. It seemed to cool down the heat around him, which he was fine with. He placed the cart within its room and moved on to the experimental room. This was his first day he was assigned to diagnostics within the room, for it was a restricted access room. He had no idea why, but he would find out inside the room. He boarded an elevator with a woman assigned to the room also. The elevator gave them a smooth ride after being repaired last week.

Over the ride, Antin was definitely curious what was inside the room. It could either be a project to explore the outside world, for cameras outside have confirmed that the world was safe to live in now. The other possibility was some new design for a weapon that was rumored upon the halls. It was going to be interesting inside the halls. At last, the elevator chimed its way open, allowing Antin and the woman out. They prepared their IDs as they walked-

_“_ _SECURITY ALERT! SECURITY ALERT! BREACH WITHIN THE EXPERIMENTAL ROOM! ALL SECURITY MEMBERS REMAIN STATIONARY AND ARMED! EVERYONE ELSE, LOCK UP WITHIN A NEARBY ROOM! NOT A DRILL! REPEAT! NOT A DRILL!”_

The security alarm was blaring as the facility went dark. The announcement was playing itself all over again before it shut down for good. Antin and the woman were both certified, so they drew up their tranquilizers. After the previous incident, all security personal were given tranquilizers except for a select few, who were given the standard gun. Antin wasn’t scared of the alarms at all, for since this wasn’t his first incident. However, this was the first emergency that was coming out of the experimental room, which was definitely worrying. Even worse was the fact that the next hallway turn would’ve led them to the room itself. He couldn’t investigate the room since he had to follow protocol. As such, he remained stationary.

One minute after the alarms started blaring, the security door to the room blew up. The smoke blinded the two of them just as they were receiving word to slowly approach the room.The woman turned out to have a higher certification, to which she told Antin to stayed behind, to which he obeyed. The woman put on some goggles to help her see through the darkness and the smoke. Antin stayed back and watched her enter the room. Antin stood there, ready to shoot anything that came out as the ash settled on his dark brown hair.

“Open fire!” the woman yelled in there. Less than 5 seconds later, the tranquilizer darts began firing from the room. Antin wanted to rush in to help her with whatever was the danger, but he had orders. He stayed behind as normal and waited for anything to approach. Then all of a sudden, a flame erupted from the doorway, to which a medium-sized creature ran out of the room. It was red with a flame on its tail. It was a Charmeleon.

Within whatever education they provided, Pokemon was taught as part of the history of the world, before the collapse of society. From the rumors he heard about, the Pokemon took over the world after the nuclear fallout, but still not much was know about them besides what documents remained from past times. But a Pokemon that was inside the experimental room, it was definitely surprising. The scientists probably captured them to gain more information about the outside world. Since they were valuable assets, _they had to be contained._

The Charmeleon immediately fired a blast of fire against Antin. Antin quickly dodged the blast that would incinerate him. Once he ensured that he wasn’t in the blast radius, he pulled the trigger to his tranquilizer. The Charmeleon quickly dodged the dart that would subdue him. It rationalized that it can’t defeat the human, so it immediately began to run off. But, since these were no ordinary tranquilizers, Antin fired it again. It marked the spot on the Charmeleon. As soon as it was hit, it collapsed to the ground, not to be awakened for the next 12 hours. Another job complete.

But the mess was not over yet. As Antin smiled upon the Charmeleon, several more Pokemon came rushing out to escape. Antin quickly went in front of them, but they charged underneath him. He quickly put another dart into a Chikorita.Once that one was subdued, he began chasing the 10 others that remain. He saw them running down the stairs, which gave Antin an opportunity. He quickly boarded an elevator in the hopes of catching them off guard. As far as he knew, the ventilation system was the only way out of the facility, and the maintenance room was at the bottom of the facility. If the elevator was faster than them, then he could possibly subdue them very quickly. Antin quickly prepared his other tranquilizer gun.

Thirty seconds later, the elevator’s door opened. The boilers were there in the dark room, providing warm water to everyone and the vents cooling the facility down, even though winter had just began. He stepped out and began observing for any Pokemon. After investigating, he had concluded that none of the Pokemon had reached the room yet. _Perfect._ Antin quickly ran to the entrance to the room and waited for them. With his plan foolproof, the lock down would be over quickly. He stood there and waited. And waited… and waited… and waited…

Five, whole minutes went by without anyone being sighted. Antin had no idea what was going on. The Pokemon couldn’t be captured already, for the alarms were still blaring, but there were none in front of him already. Antin couldn’t believe it. The alarm was likely still on to check to see if everything was still secured, but it doesn’t make sense. Antin grumbled as he waited for any information. Then he realized that he had access to the security cameras, since all transportation units had to be monitored. He quickly ran over to the nearest computer in the room and typed the necessary information to access them. Once he was in, he clicked on “Security Cameras.” The cameras revealed that security was still tracking down the Pokemon. Another camera revealed the woman he was with earlier was on the stretcher, meaning that the fire blast from the Charmeleon knocked her out. The lock down was on, but no word on the Pokemon.

Antin had checked every camera for any information on the situation. There was nothing that could help him track them down. He was frustrated that he couldn’t mass knock-out Pokemon. There was something not adding up. _Then he heard a bump in the ventilation._ Antin immediately rushed over to the vent that produced the noise. He found nothing in there, but it made him realize he hadn’t check the vents yet. He rushed back to the cameras and typed the password needed to access the vents. Once there, he struck a gold mine. Eight Pokemon were crawling across the vents, trying to find a way out of the place. Antin had his lucky break. Once he was ready to investigate the ventilation system, a vent above him collapsed. Antin was quick enough to dodge the incoming metal, but a Voltorb landed on his lap.

“What the!” Antin immediately reacted.

“Voltorb!” the Pokemon immediately began glowing. Antin knew what was going to happen to him if he didn’t get out of the way. He immediately dropped the Pokemon and began running away from it. Less than three seconds later, the Pokemon used Self Destruct.

* * *

 

Antin’s eyes were slowly beginning to dim back up, signifying he was conscious again. But once he knew he was alive, he immediately got up, with some pain in his legs. The scene that laid before him was chaos. One of the boilers had exploded, resulting in a fire that spread across the room. The computer that he had used was utterly destroyed and the vent that fell on him was basically how the fire didn’t reach him. But now, near him laid the fainted Voltorb that blew up the maintenance room. Antin knew that this wasn’t some security breach. This was a disaster. As he began investigating the room, the speakers blared up again.

 _“_ _SECURITY LOCK-DOWN OVER. WORKERS, PROCEED TO MAINTENANCE ROOM WITH CAUTION. ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL TO THE TRANSPORTATION HUB.”_ That confirmed his suspicions.

As he walked up the stairs to get to a functioning elevator, he met several maintenance works and firefighters, ready to repair the room that the Voltorb left in flames. As he got to the elevator, there was some medical staff with the stretcher, carrying the Charmeleon he dealt with earlier. Why they were taking it down, he had no idea. Then finally, he had reached the elevator. He plugged in all the numbers needed to access the hub, and he was on his way. One minute later, he had made it.

The elevator opened with a room the size of a hangar. There, there was two planes that were stored for future purposes, golf carts that were used to carry heavier loads, and armored cars for future purposes. It was a place he had been at very few times, even though his main role currently was transportation. But now, in the hangar stood a large crowd of security and HR. Antin quickly joined the crowd. There, some of the security guards he was with at the mental illness incident noticed him.

“Antin, did you manage to spot any Pokemon?” one of the bald ones asked him. Antin didn’t want to brag about the Pokemon he had to face at the beginning, so he only told about the Voltorb.

“Well, within the maintenance room, a Voltorb exploded in there, causing significant damage in there. I spotted some Pokemon within the ventilation system, but that was it,” he told his side.

“Wow. So that caused the fire in there. The fire in the room is now under control, but it is going to be about a month before they replace the boiler,” another one spoke up. Before Antin could ask about their sides of the stories, the director of the facility, Feleecia Nosredna, got up. She was a descendant of Haisoj Nosredna, the CEO of the former Nosredna Corporations and builder of the facility they sit in. She had blond, long hair and was currently wearing a business suit. She quickly got everyone’s attention before she began speaking.

“This night, at 7:36 PM, a breach within the experimental room occurred, allowing Pokemon situated within the room to escape. 14 Pokemon escaped the room, causing damage to the personal homes and to the maintenance room. After counting the total, four security guards have been injured, with one in critical condition, and most importantly, seven Pokemon in total have escaped to the outside world,” she began with the facts. Antin knew that the Pokemon within the vents were the ones to escape, for besides the transportation hub, they were the only way out. The guards stood there, absorbing the information the director was giving.

“These Pokemon are valuable assets for us because they provide us critical data on how we will thrive outside the facility and into the outside world. Currently, the number of Pokemon we have won’t provide enough data for us to make conclusions. We also know that the Pokemon will likely not survive the winter currently going on outside the facility. That is why it is crucial we recapture the Pokemon as soon as possible,” she explained as some of the guards began rallying a bit.

“But before we go out to find them, we must be aware that the Pokemon have entered the _outside world,_ a realm mankind hasn’t explored for more than 10,000 years. This would be our first test case of the outside world. So, we have already determined our seven candidates for the recovery mission.” Antin had only just realized that they indeed have to go to the outside world in order to recover all of the Pokemon that escaped. He had only seen the outside world from the security cameras that were placed outside, and it was mainly winter outside. If the rest of the world wasn’t this cold, then what was it like?

Antin then heard the part about having seven candidates go to the outside world to hunt for the lost Pokemon. That was something unheard of in the facility. No team has ever been sent outside of the underground facility ever. Sometimes, some rebels would try to break out of the facility. As far as he heard, they were captured and never heard of again. But now, this was the first approved team to go outside. But who would be the approved candidates for the mission? Probably not himself, for he had only been in the security division for six years, while there were others who had been in there for two decades. He shut his thoughts as Feleecia spoke again.

“Anyway. And now, we will announce the candidates that will undergo special training for this mission. Robotnik, Nikolas, Anderson, Hitchcock, Williams, Moore, and Wong. Please come up to the meeting room where you will be orientated about the mission,” she announced as she begin walking away. The guards were left in confusion as the ones who were called started making way to the meeting room. Antin was one of the called members. Honestly, it was unexpected, but there were clues about it. For one, it was him that managed to detect the remaining Pokemon escaping from the building, and he managed to deal with two of the Pokemon escaping the facility. But still, it was unexpected with his current rank. But whatever. He had a duty to performed that he was selected for anyway. He followed the other guards to the security room.

 


	2. White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (4/29/19) After finally finishing the nightmare of the exposition dump, I can finally begin truly writing this fan fiction. After this chapter, I will be certain that my dialogue and imagery has truly improved. In this chapter, the main protagonists shall be introduced definitely.
> 
> Anyway, the weather is starting to turn white. Time to evacuate the house as I write this chapter. Anyway, enjoy!

Within the land that is white, nothing can be seen at all. Nothing at all. The blizzard is just that terrible. The wind howled throughout the day, bringing nothing but endless white particles to the ground, to make it even less visible. And the temperature was almost _zero,_ definitely. For the past three days, the storm dropped its white blanket all across the region. Almost nobody dared to stomp outside in the weather. When the brave few managed to break out, they easily succumbed to the whiteness around them, allowing for easy capture. Only one managed to stay up and resisted the storm. _At least for three days…_

The young Snivy’s pace had dramatically decreased within the past few hours. Water was easy to find, for he was completely surrounded by the white, but no food was to be seen for who knows. Due to the scarcity, he had to conserve energy by reducing his pace. This was all due to the dramatic decrease of the temperature, freezing the little green Pokemon. He tried covering himself with the scarf he had managed to cling on during his entire life, and it showed some slight improvement within his body temperature. But still, the little Snivy suffered from the icy temperature. _But he does not want to return_ _back_ _to that place, ever…_

But, he couldn’t think of that now. He has to find shelter, or he’ll end up freezing for real. But, it was extremely difficult spotting any shelter within these conditions. The past two days, he managed to find caves to sleep in, but tonight, he wasn’t finding any, even though this night was significantly more dangerous than the previous two. He continued walking, trying to cling on to life within his legs, which haven’t somehow froze off. But for how long he could survive out here, likely little time since he hadn’t found any food at all.

Eventually, he stumbled upon a forest. This was the first one he had found. It wasn’t much, but the wind slowed down a bit within the dormant forest, which definitely helped with him trying to find shelter, though it was still freezing cold. By now, it was completely dark, meaning now he had to completely rely on the trees to know where he was. He kept close side to the trees in the event a _predator_ would come after him. He maneuvered around the trees, while rubbing his legs on them to warm them up. Meanwhile, he would keep looking for an abnormalities in the terrain, in the hopes of finding shelter. But for the next hour, there was nothing at all that seemed abnormal. All that was there was just some strange tree formations and some interesting rocks. _Where there even anyone else besides him and the others?_

Just then, he heard a roar within the distance. It was very long roar, sort of like a dragon’s roar, but higher pitched. As soon as he heard that, he immediately jumped up in fear and gave a very small screech. He couldn’t do loud ones, for he was born without the ability to speak to other Pokemon, and it was difficult making regular sounds also. But that roar, it terrifies him. Within the place he was before, everyone terrified him, since he was the one that was experimented on the most. They kept attacking him, despite his pleas in sign language. And now, he knows there are more of them out in the world. _Will they be like them?_ He was afraid to answer that question.

The mysterious Pokemon kept on roaring a few more times before the wind carrying the white particles kept blowing only. The Snivy hid within the hollow log of a tree for the next three minutes, cowering from the roars and making sure nothing was out there. As an extra layer of defense, he wrapped himself with his tail, or what remained of the leaf part. His leaf looked like it had withered away, making it entirely useless for photosynthesis. It still looked green, but it looked like it was poisoned. He exactly knew what happened that day, but no time to reflect that. Five minutes pass without any roar. It was safe to exit. He left the log and continued maneuvering around the trees.

Around this time, the snow started getting more brutal, which froze him even further. He has no idea how has the storm been sustaining itself over the past three days. As far as he knew, the storm only started a while before they broke out. He had no idea how far the others even got, for everyone that managed to successfully escaped scrambled in different directions. Besides the Pokemon that roared in the opposite direction earlier, he was the only one for kilometers across. It was definitely lonely, but at least he didn’t have to deal with them anymore. They only did a ceasefire so they could escape. Luckily for him, he saw a dark-haired human take out the Charmeleon bully; the only other good thing that came out of the breakout.

And then, out of nowhere, the Snivy just collapsed to the ground. Not from the temperature, but from exhaustion. Besides the times he was sleeping, he just either sprinted or walk entirely, and combined with the stress of reality, he had to collapse. But he didn’t fall unconscious. He resisted against that feeling, knowing that would be the end. For the next three minutes, he lied down there as he rested his legs. He knew the storm would be over soon, to which he will definitely need them to find civilization. He then begin getting up, knowing he can continue on with his journey. But as he got up, he heard something snap. He scanned everywhere to see where someone could’ve stepped on a branch. Nothing. He began wandering around. He was beginning to rationalize other reasons for the snap. And then a dead tree smacked him with the force of a thunderbolt.

* * *

 

For five minutes, his mind drifted off into the void, as the shock from the smack wore off. And snapped, he was back in the storm. Quickly, his eyes went from droopy to full alert. The first issue that laid at hand was the fact that a dead tree had pinned him on the ground. The solution of course was to crawl out. He managed to dig a bit of the snow before he could crawl out successfully. Now he was back on track with the journey. But now a second, and more serious problem laid at hand.

Right as he got up, he heard a snap inside of his tail before he collapsed to the ground in pain. The tree had apparently jinxed his tail. He had broken bones before, but this was the most painful he had so far. There was also a visible wound on the area the tree hit. He was whimpering from the pain, even though he was completely motionless. With the storm getting more brutal, he was very close to the end also. He really need to find shelter or else he would die tonight. He tried getting up, but when he did so, in resulted in a pain much greater than what he received from the humans. That wasn’t going to work at all.

But during the short period that he was up, he saw anorange light in the distance. It was definitely not the sun, but seemed to be more like a fire. _Could civilization be in that direction?_ His next best bet was to roll on the ground to get there. The main problem with it was the open wound on his tail. He had a temporary solution to it. He grabbed his scarf and wrapped it around the wound. It should do for now. He begin doing his method of rolling to the source of light. It definitely still hurt, but the pain was significantly less than last time. He carefully tried not to hit a tree as he made his way to the source of light.

The light continued getting brighter as he got closer to the source. The pain was definitely getting worse, which was why he was speeding up as he got closer. He had already hit multiple trees, which gave him pain on his head and arms now also. There definitely had to be something there that would help him. His body keeps begging him to feed it, but he couldn’t spot any food at all. And he had to keep rolling at a fast pace, for the roaring Pokemon had returned. He couldn’t lift himself into a hollow log, like he did last time. But he didn’t had to worry about it as much as before, for the roars were farther away. He continued rolling on as the light got brighter. Then, at last, the light overpowered the darkness. He had finally made it, even though he was facing the wrong side. One last time, he managed to get up, trying to overcome the pain.

The light was revealed to be a campfire, somehow burning within the white storm. Two logs are laid to be sat next to it, and a single, white tent was laid next to it. Very slowly to prevent more pain, he investigated the camp site. Definitely somebody was around here, but no evidence of footprints were laid out besides his own. Within the campsite, there was a map and a compass. He couldn’t read both due to his background. And there was finally a berry on top of the map, which he ate very quickly. And… that was it to this place. The only benefits were finding food, even if it was small, and the campfire that finally warmed him up. But the good was short-lived;his stomach rumbled once more and a giant burst of wind blew upon him, knocking him to the ground. When he got back up, the campfire was no more.

The situation was definitely dire for the Snivy. He had found a campsite, but barely anything helpful was there. His scarf was now covering his broken tail, but it exposed everywhere else of his body to the cold. He had no idea how he was going to survive this storm. What to do now?

 _“_ _Maybe just sleep for now...”_ a voice spoke to him. Immediately, he scrambled backward after hearing that. _“_ _Who is there?”_ he thought to himself, since he couldn’t call out in public due to his speech impairment. He rolled around a bit, trying to find the mysterious voice. But after five minutes of searching, he found nobody around. If nobody was around, then what made that voice? The voice then spoke again, in those exact same words. _Were they coming from his mind?_ But he decided to ignore the voice for now.

His only option was to stay at the camp, trying to survive against the white storm until someone could find him. He went back into the tent and tried to cover himself entirely with with scarf, leaving only his head exposed, but it wasn’t enough against the cold. And the pain of his broken tail was only getting stronger. Hopefully, someone who wasn’t like the others would find him. Are they here at all?

 _Hello? Anyone?_ He gave a very weak cry of help in the form of a chirping noise before the void of darkness consumed him once more. Now at last, the white particles can finish the Snivy off once and for all.

* * *

 

_Somewhere near the camp…_

Of course, the white storm was bound to affect the surrounding population of Pokemon. Some of them went into hiding into either their huts, caves, or whatever they considered their homes. They had plenty of resources for them to survive on, like berries, water, and medical supplies. For some homes, it was a time of celebration, for since it was late February, it would be the last of the great, white storms of the winter. But as some Pokemon celebrated the end, _others were trying to pull others out of the deadly storm._ _Team Nexus was stuck with that duty tonight._

“No one in this area,” a Toucannon observed with his good eyesight, despite the whiteness clouding his vision.

“Thank you Rowan. Let’s look at the map again back at camp,” the Brionne acknowledged as she led the way back to the camp. The team was always lumped into the most boring of tasks, despite being led by Hope, one of the Expedition Society’s best leaders. Accompanied with her is Rowan the Toucannon, another veteran member, Sophie the Fennekin, who joined a year ago, and Ivo the Emolga, a member that has been around for a few years. All together, they form Team Nexus, a team that would’ve had a higher rating had it not been the fact that Brionne always picks the rescue missions related to weather, where they have basically found nobody yet within these conditions. And as usual, they were out within the most dangerous white storm of this winter.

Ivo was about to speak up about the situation, but Rowan nudged him otherwise.

“But why though? We aren’t finding anyone out here,” the Emolga whispered to Rowan.

“You will always find someone, no matter what in these conditions. We just haven’t found them yet,” Rowan spoke to Ivo, but Ivo wasn’t done yet.

“But for the past two hours, we haven’t found anyone yet!” Rowan just looked at him with dismay.

“Then why did you join this team?” Rowan responded with. Ivo had no words for him. He just decided to shut up to the question he couldn’t quite answer to the public. For now, they kept walking on within the white storm.

Sophie continued walking in the snow, drooping down her snout. Today had been a rough day, though the other groups didn’t feel the same. She just remembered almost dying in an avalanche. It was only Hope that managed to drag her out. That event still had shaken her up. Hope kept her nearby, which was a bit reassuring for Sophie, but it wasn’t enough. She definitely faced danger a lot during the couple of months she has been around, but she didn’t like the snow at all. Though, she still kept persisting to go on the rescue today, to which Hope reluctantly agreed. She just had that feeling of hope that they would rescue someone. By now, she seems to have lost her hope.

“I see the camp,” Rowan spotted to which Ivo immediately rushed towards. Hope confirmed what Rowan had seen. It was the single tent with a single campfire. It seems like the campfire had gone out already, but nobody had cared. They needed to regroup for the next area to explore next. Sophie still had the willpower to restart the blaze once more. Once they started warming up, Hope began talking strategy.

“So, which areas haven’t we searched ye?” Hope asked the team. Ivo was about to speak up something irrelevant, but Rowan glared up, to which the Emolga decided to shut up.

“We haven’t explored that section of the mountains yet,” Rowan spoke up first as the white particles landed on his fathers.

“Excellent idea. Sophie, may you get the map please?” Hope asked the Fennekin. She decided to perk up for once and nodded. Hope looked concern about her current state, but she couldn’t address it right now. Sophie’s normal emotions returned once she entered the tent.

For once, she just wanna stop now. The avalanche had already worn her out, and she had no idea how much longer she could stand up. She just wants to stop now, but she had no idea how to speak it up to Hope, who she had looked up to for so long. She just decided to remain silent. The map seemed to have fallen from the wind, and the compass still remained stationary, although the map was bent weirdly on the ground. She didn’t have to worry about water damage, but it said not to be bent. And then, she removed it off the ground, but it uncovered something else.

* * *

 

 _A Snivy laid on the ground, shivering._ It definitely surprised her so much, that she would’ve screeched, but thankfully, she didn’t. The grass-type was covered within its own scarf, but the temperature had already dropped too low for him to warm up. But the part that definitely concerned her the most, was that his tail was broken. _There’s an open wound there also._ Since he was technically in the snow storm injured, it was a win-win. But yet, how on Earth did he even get to camp with a broken tail? Guess she will find out later. She immediately pulled the Snivy onto her back. He was light, though still a bit of a challenge for her, meaning that he was about the same age as her. As soon as she knew that the Snivy was on her, she walked out the tent.

“Hey Sophie! What’s taking so-” Ivo was about to yell out, but then saw her come out. Of course, Ivo was more interested on the Snivy that was on her back. Even Hope was surprised. But then, the Snivy just conveniently rolled off Sophie.

“How in the world was he here?!” Hope scrambled for answers as she begin investigating the Pokemon.

“No clue. I found him under the map,” Sophie answered with. Rowan seemed surprised, but he didn’t show it at all. Ivo was investigating the little Pokemon also.

“Why don’t we wake him up?” Ivo just plainly asked as he charged up. Rowan just facepalmed while he sighed. Sophie just looked at him angrily.

“Are you foolish? He was just barely alive!” Sophie barked at, whom Ivo immediately backed away from. It was when Hope’s investigation reached the open wound. When she did, fear struck her eyes, like something serious had unfolded in front of her.

“I’m afraid she is right. His wound has been infected. We have to take him in _now_ ,” Hope immediately spoke, with a hint of fear. Only Sophie recognized the hint of fear. Was it possible he wouldn’t make it? Now Sophie shared that same fear, even though they hadn’t even spoke to each other at all.

“Rowan, can you lift up the Snivy back to Nurse Chauncey?” Hope asked Rowan.

“Why yes, of course,” the Toucannon agreed as he lifted up and grabbed the Snivy by his talons. Within a short few seconds, he was gone.

“Come on!” Hope said as she began making her way back to Serene Village, where Nurse Chauncey was. Ivo and Sophie followed her along. Sophie now wouldn’t stopped worrying about that Snivy. She did not know him at all, yet she was already curious about that little critter. To begin with, she had no idea how he could’ve even make it to their camp with a broken tail. And second of all, even though his tail was broken, his tail end looked like it had withered away, meaning that he definitely had a medical history. And three, something was awfully wrong with the scarf. Before she lifted him up earlier, she noticed a marking on his scarf. It read **“C-15.”** It was plausible that that number could be related to his current state, but she can’t be sure. For now, she just hoped he was alive. The lights of Serene Village started getting visible. Now it was the moment of truth.

* * *

 

Half an hour later, the three of them arrived at Nurse Chauncey’s hut. Finally, a place warm for the three of them, for Ivo was also beginning to shiver. But no time for resting. First priority was the Snivy. Thankfully, the first person that greeted them was Rowan.

“Any news on the Snivy?” Sophie asked Rowan, prepared for the worst.

“He’s out cold, but stable now,” Rowan sighed. He glanced at the window, to which Sophie looked over at. Out there, the now bandaged Snivy was resting on a straw bed. His blue scarf was set upon the floor next to his bed. He was still breathing shallow, but he was still alive. At a second glance, Sophie managed to see the sign **C-15** on the scarf once more, which still intrigued her. As she observed, Nurse Chauncey came out of the room.

“Do you know how he ended up with those injuries?” she asked them all.

“We don’t know ma’am,” Hope gave to her.

“Fortunately, Rowan came in at the time I was shutting everything down for the night. Thanks to his appearance, I managed to stabilize him. He should be up by the morning. And now, you should head back to the inn, it’s been a long day for you all.” Nurse Chauncey then proceeded to leave. Most of Team Nexus decided to leave. For a little while, all that Sophie did is watch that Snivy. **C-15** is all she saw on him.

“You coming Sophie?” Hope had asked her. Sophie nodded to her and followed her, taking one last look at the Snivy recovering from the white storm before they began walking to the inn. Another team would deal with their duties for the rest of the night. But now, they could rest within the white storm, as the white particles settled on Serene Village evermore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is Chapter White, the chapter where the main protagonists got introduced at last. Now, I’m going to rest as the doom of Finals looms in. Leave your review down and I will see you later. And one last thing, is there anything would you like to see in the fanfic in both author notes and in the story?
> 
> \- Nosredna (5/12/19)


	3. Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (5/17/19) Sorry if this chapter took so long to get out. Life and the end of school caught up to me, but have a 8k chapter for you. Anyway, guess I’m back again with another chapter after almost killing another character. EOCs are past me and I am almost done with school. Despite this, I will still keep up with the two-week upload schedule. Anyway, let’s see the reviews.
> 
> (NO REVIEWS)
> 
> How depressing… Anyway, I like fiddling with names. From PixelGX to Nosredna to Antin and back to Nosredna. Anyway, I’m wasting too much time now. Here’s the chapter.

_(Snivy’s POV)_

The void that plagued his consciousness had definitely taken its toll. He had no idea how much time had passed from the white storm. The even bigger question was how he even lived through the storm. Grass Pokemon had less of an advantage during snow storms due to the lack of sunlight. And the temperature was ripe enough for hypothermia to take place, which would’ve killed him. But yet, he could feel his eyes slowly rising up. Either he was extremely lucky that night or somebody had found him. Though soon, he would learn that it would be option number 2.

His eyes woke up to a very comfortable feeling of what felt like hay. Or straw maybe? But before he got comfortable, the very painful feeling of his broken tail came back to him. Somehow, he had managed to ignore the pain before he slept into unconsciousness that night. But now, away from any sort of danger, his tail presented his next danger. He lifted his head slowly to look at the extent of the damage, but there was barely anything to see. The area where the tree struck him had been covered by a tail brace. This confirmed that somebody else had found him and strapped the brace on his tail. Even though he knew there were others around him besides the ones at the facility, but could he trust them?

His first concern for his trust for them is his communication issues. He knew he couldn’t understand the map at all when he saw it back at camp. As far as he knew, he could only communicate in sign language, for whatever _they_ did, they ended up ruining his vocal cords. And nobody within his group could understand him at all, so it’s likely whoever he’ll meet won’t understand him. And the other concern he had was the unfamiliarity with this world. Everything was new to him outside the facility. He recognized Pokemon definitely, but how they would interact with each other, that was news to him. How could he be trusted if he had no idea how he would even be like them? He lied on the straw bed, hopeless as the sunlight gazed through the windows of the circular clinic.

* * *

 

_(Sophie’s POV)_

After the chaos that resulted from the discovery of the Snivy last night, Hope rented out an inn for the night for them to sleep during what remained of the storm. The Snivy was still unconscious when they got back, so they decided to stay at Serene Village tonight. Even though they could now rest from the storm, Sophie the Fennekin couldn’t stop thinking about the Snivy she discovered. There was absolutely no way a grass Pokemon could’ve lasted that long in a snow storm, especially that one. Either the Snivy was used to conditions like that or he had a source of heat. After packing up the camp yesterday. Besides the scarf the Snivy had, he had no possessions on him at all. The scarf was another mystery to her. Besides the fact the blue scarf was falling apart, the tag **C-15** was embedded into the scarf. It was unlikely that was the Snivy’s name, so what could it mean? After an hour of investigating, the void at last overcame her as she fell asleep.

As usual, it seemed like no time had passed when she woke up. The storm was beginning to slow down at last when they last saw the Snivy, but when first light broke out, the whiteness had stopped falling, only leaving behind a white sky. She rose up before wrapping her thin, purple ribbon across her tail. She didn’t wear it yesterday due to the white storm. When she left her room, Hope was beginning to wake up the others when she noticed her.

“Oh! Morning Sophie. We are heading over to the Snivy this morning,” she explained to her. This was exactly what she knew was going to happen. Every time they indeed managed to rescue someone, they visited them where they were recovering before heading out for the next adventure. And today was no exception. Ironically, it was Rowan that slept the longest. But it was fine, for he was the oldest of them all and the one who had to endure the hardest of the storm as he transported the Snivy back to Nurse Chauncey. Once they all finally got up and had a berry, they returned the keys back to the inn manager and they began walking in the deep, fluffy particles to Nurse Chauncey.

Due to how deep it was, Ivo had to ride on Rowan as they trudged through. Since snow could sort of be swum within, Hope as a Brionne had no trouble going through the snow and Rowan could just fly of course. She and Ivo were stuck to trudge across the snow. As Ivo sat up there doing nothing, she was blowing fire on the 2-foot snow, melting it till there was a clear path for them. After about ten minutes of her breathing fire on the snow, they made it to the small clinic.

“As far as I know, the Snivy is a child, so be friendly with him, okay?” Hope asked them, to which all of them nodded in compliance with her guideline. Then, Nurse Chauncey came out of the door.

“Your back early in the morning?” she questioned them, for she still had droopy eyes.

“We came to see the Snivy,” Hope answered her question. Nurse Chauncey seemed relieved. Was the Snivy giving her trouble?

“Thank goodness. But don’t worry. Recovery is going well for him except...” she started getting nervous before finishing her sentence, “...I can’t understand him at all.”

_What?_ Hope thought to herself. Does he speak in another language? “When I came to provide him breakfast, he immediately became frightened of me and ran to the corner. When I tried to ask him, he spoke in hands,” Nurse Chauncey finally explained. Now the Snivy they rescued last night had become more interesting. He couldn’t communicate well like most Pokemon, which wasn’t news to her since she had been in similar scenarios before. But a Snivy this young was concerning. Usually, it was lost travelers in the land that get caught in the storm, but a young Snivy all alone was definitely worrying.

“May we try to speak to him?” Hope asked the nurse.

“Well, you can try speaking to him, but I don’t know if that will work,” she continued on before being interrupted by Ivo.

“It’s chilly out there. May we head in please?” Hope just glared at him for a split second before she sighed.

“Yes Ivo. Let’s head in,” she finally said before Ivo rushed in as the others followed him.

The nursery only contained 5 rooms. There was the main room where all of injured or sick Pokemon stayed on their straw beds. There was a separate room for the Pokemon in critical care. The Snivy was in there for the night before he was moved to the regular room. There was the waiting room, which was separate from the huge room. And them, there were the two storage closets. When they stepped inside at last, Nurse Chauncey asked for them to sign in, which they did. Hope had to sign in for Sophie, since her paws can’t exactly grope on pens. Nurse Chauncey then led them to the straw bed the Snivy was on.

* * *

 

He was still recovering from when the Chauncey appeared earlier. He had no clue where he was, so he automatically assumed he was back at the facility. When a Pokemon was healing from an incident within the facility, _they_ would disguise themselves as Chauncey in order to bring false security to the Pokemon before experiments resumed on them. He wasn’t falling for that trick again. He felt a bit panicked when the Chauncey approached him, but then she spoke.

“Oh, you are awake now little one,” she said. This was very unusual with the words she said. Normally, _they_ would’ve said, “Glad you are up once more.” But she didn’t. He knew they were required to say it. Either this was a trainee, a lapse within someone’s memory, _or this was an actual Pokemon._ He decided to respond to test her, for he knew they would recognize the hands he used to communicate.

_“_ _Where am I?”_ he signed with his hands. That immediately made her confused, which directly lead him to believe this was an actual Pokemon. But, was it one he could trust? He knew there were some Pokemon _they_ used to keep everyone else, including him in check. So, it could entirely be possible that she was being used to let his guard down. But, he knew what was going on.

“You speak in hands? Well, that makes thing difficult for me. Anyway, you have been malnourished, so I need you take this,” she continued on as she pulled out an Oran berry. This immediately set a red-flag in his mind, for he had never seen that berry ever. It didn’t even look like the one he ate last night. Could it be their next experiment, or could it be poisonous as punishment for the breakout last night? Terrified of this, he rationalized his simple plan.

When the Chauncey set down the berry, he booked it. He couldn’t run for long, but he could escape.

“Wait, sir! Come back!” Nurse Chauncey yelled at him as she chased him, but it wasn’t necessary because he also thought the doors could slide, like some of them did in the facility. When he realized the doors didn’t have camera, he tried stopping, but he collided face-flat on the door, knocking him out. Nurse Chauncey stopped while freaking out.

“Why is he so over reactive?” she said to herself as he scooped up the Snivy into her arms.

When he woke up again, he was within his straw bed again. Nothing had changed in the facility at all. It was just quiet without the Chauncey. Now his face also hurt from his botched escape and to add to that, his legs hurt even more now. Escape wasn’t certainly possible now. The only surprising thing is how he wasn’t locked up in a more secure area. But even then, it was hopeless. He tried curling up to pretend he was sleeping, but in his mind, he was counting down to the moment he would return back to the experiment room that had dreaded him so much. _101\. 100. 99. 98. 97…_ And he continued counting down.

“He is resting on that bed,” he heard the familiar voice of that Chauncey. She had returned, and from that sentence he immediately assumed the worst. They were now here to retrieve him took a glance to see if it was the director of the operation. But, what he saw further confused him. He saw a Brionne leading the way of the group, which consisted of an old Toucannon, an impatient Emolga, and from what he could discern of her face, a concerned Fennekin. All from the proportions of the Pokemon, it made it impossible for _them_ to be disguised. But then again, they could be trained to keep everyone in check. But yet, five of them in the same room was very usual. He was very curious of why they would send them here. He would just have to submit to them anyway, since there was no way out.

“Hello little one! How are you feeling?” Hope asked him as he stared at them. She was gentle in her words as so to not startle the child. But in his perspective, he was trying to discern their identities, for he had no clue for who they were at all. The ribbon bands on them just confused him even more, for usually they would wear a scarf with an identity embedded into them. But he knew the Brionne was starting off with the gentle things before they touched on the concerning matters.

_“_ _Okay,”_ he signed to them. It was the only thing he could say to them that wouldn’t ring a bell. He witnessed the Fennekin whispering to them all. At least one of them could understand what he was saying, compared to everyone he met before that ridiculed his use of hands. He was just going to play along with their conversations, but obviously he just wants it over with before he returns back to his nightmare. However, he is going to answer with as little details as possible. He didn’t want them to figure out how they managed to escape, at least so he could have a second chance.

“Alright, I have no idea who you are, so let’s start with that. What is your name?” Hope began asking him. It was an easy one. It wasn’t technically a name, but it was his identity here. He could answer this one.

“ _ **C-15**_ ,” he answered back. It didn’t seem much, but it enough to trigger an alarm in Sophie. She had seen that same identity on his scarf that was recovered, but it had confirmed her suspicions that he was associated with it, but as an _identity?_ That wasn’t right. She whispered his answer to them. Hope was definitely shocked by his answer.

“C-15? That can’t be right. That couldn’t be your name, right?” Hope asked while trying to decipher why this would be an identity of a child. If this was the identity of a gang, then that would be very unusual. Meanwhile, the Snivy was actually surprised of their responses to his identity. Normally, they would continue on with the process, since they had an identification on their own. But them questioning his own identity, this further swayed him away of him be recaptured back at the facility. But even if he wasn’t there, who were they?

_“_ _M_ _y name,”_ the Snivy signed to them once more, as Sophie passed the translation back to them.

“Is everything okay? Did you run from some place?” Hope continued asking him with evermore concern within her voice. This basically confirmed for the Snivy that he wasn’t back at the facility. There was no way they would ask this at the facility since they knew of the breakout. And since they were concerned for his current situation, they were Pokemon trying to help him. His situation was that he ran away from a corrupted facility, but would they believe him? He said nothing as he tried to figure out how he would explain all of this. As Team Nexus waited, Ivo was getting impatient. The Snivy started getting nervous.

“Are you alright?” Hope asked him as she put one of her flippers on him. The Snivy tried to back off, but her grip was definitely a wonder. “If you don’t feel like answering right now, then that’s fine with us,” she continued as she put a smile on her face. “Whatever situation you are in, you are probably not ready to deal with it. You are not the only one...” That was definitely reassuring for the Snivy. He mainly had no idea how they would believe him. But the Brionne said they would be there for him. He almost smiled at that moment, but a glimpse of happiness occurred in his mind. _What was that feeling?_

“But doesn’t he need to speak so we can help him out?” Ivo finally spoke out. Everyone, including the Snivy, stared at him.

“What?” the Snivy signed at the Emolga.

“If he doesn’t speak out, then he can’t get the help he needs,” Ivo continued on, not knowing what effect his words are speaking. The Snivy just felt offended on two different levels. Both that he can’t technically speak and he doesn’t feel ready to speak out, or sign his current situation to them. But before he could sign his response, that same voice he heard last night came back to him.

_“_ _You_ _don’t need their help_ _,”_ the voice said. But he knew the answer was no to the voice. His physical injuries was enough as a sign for help, and his identity revealed enough that he came from a place that was abnormal for a child to be at. But yet, he was at their mercy and their interpretations of what he would describe to them. If they didn’t believe him, then what? Would he try to survive this harsh world on their own? He considered all of his options as the Brionne got up.

“Ivo, he Is just his child? All of this is too much for him to handle. It will take time for him to tell the truth, but for now, let him recover at his own pace,” Hope explained to Ivo. But that wasn’t enough proper explanation for him.

“But I’m still young and here I am. Is that enough for you?” as he said this, sparks began coming out of his cheeks. Rowan the Toucannon was the first to notice this. As soon as he saw it, he started getting afraid.

“Ivo, be careful. You’re going to Discharge,” he warned him.

“What Dis-” the Ivo immediately realized it, but he unfolded himself. Immediately, a surge of electricity came out of him, straight towards the Snivy. He had good reaction times, so he immediately dodged the incoming Discharge, which went towards the ground. He was safe, but now he realized that this was an unsafe area. Now there was someone he couldn’t trust here. If he was a part of their group, then whoever approved him here was untrustworthy. He resorted back to the “Trust No One” mentality and thought up of an escape immediately. He saw that one of the closet doors was open, which he didn’t see earlier. Before he bee-lined it, he stared at the group one last time with tears in his ears. All of them stared at him with remorse. And yet to think he could actually trust them. Mustering his remain strength, he bolted to the closet.

* * *

 

“Wait C-15! Wait!” Sophie immediately began running after him, with Toucannon following her. Sophie knew that probably his identity is dehumanizing for him, but she couldn’t think of any alternatives for the Snivy. Ivo immediately realized his error and would begin running after them, but Hope stopped him with her flipper.

“I will deal with your behavior _later,_ ” Hope told him with a sense of fury in her voice. It was very rare for her to get angry and when she did, they would run. Ivo definitely knew how furious she was and he was actually terrified of her. He nodded in agreement with his actions having consequences. Once Hope knew that Ivo would stay, she also went to the closet to help look for the Snivy.

The closet contained several shelves of medicine on racks and other areas. There was no light in there, leaving Nurse Chauncey to grab the right medicine using her eyesight only. She wasn’t in there at the moment, busying attending the elderly in another home. The Snivy was amazed at the amount of medicine in there, but he wasn’t here to admire it. He had to get out of here, fast. This closet was only a distraction in his plan to escape. To begin with, he had to hide from them. Even though there was no light, the Fennekin was a fire-type; she could easily produce a fireball as a source of light. The Snivy jumped on the highest shelve, despite the intense pain from the jump, and went to a place as obscure as possible from the light. And there, he waited. He couldn’t reach the door handles of the door that led outside, so if Nurse Chauncey returned and opened the doors fully, he would have 10 seconds to run outside. It would work. As he waited, Team Nexus began searching for him.

Sophie had already gone to work by producing a fireball, where Hope isolated it a jar and held it with her flipper. There, they began looking for the Snivy that was scared off by Ivo. There, they began calling out his name.

“C-15! Where are you C-15?” both Sophie and Hope began yelling out. Rowan wasn’t capable of yelling anymore due to his age. They didn’t mean to scare him off, even though this response was unexpected. Whatever the Snivy came from, they had definitely made him terrified of pretty much everything. The more they continued calling out him, the more they became desperate. “C-15!!!” they both called out again. This was the first time Hope was legitimately scared. She had always come to help calm down victims of whatever they came from, especially children. And in the end, all of them managed to recover thanks to her. This was the first case where the child had ran away. If he manages to run away, then who knows what would happen to him. If he runs off, then this would be her first failure of a child recovering from a major accident. As the stress mounted on her, the familiar wing of the Toucannon touched her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, we will find him. This is not the first time I have encountered someone this afraid,” Rowan assured her. She managed to smile from him.

“Thanks...” Hope said to him. However, nobody assured Sophie that everything will be alright, for she was beginning to stress out even more. She had looked at all of the shelves where he could possibly be. The tallest shelves wouldn’t be possible for him to reach due to his injury. Either she had underestimated him or she hadn’t looked hard enough. She considered every single possibility of him escaping this place, with most of them impossible. After searching for him multiple times, she was about ready to give up. He was nowhere to be find at all. As everything came crashing down on her mind, one more thought came to her. _The song…_

The Snivy was still waiting for the door to open. It had been about ten minutes, but it still hadn’t been open yet. Every once in a while, he would jump to another shelve silently to avoid detection. As he waited for his opportunity, the group below searched for him, desperately trying to call out his name. But he ignored them. There was no way he would come to them after the Emolga discharged at him. But then, he saw a tear trickle down the Brionne’s eyes. _Brionne will not show her emotions until someone had truly opened up to_ _it._ She was actually tearing up because of his disappearance. The Pokemon back at the facility treated him as a regular, _disabled_ Pokemon. But the Brionne was treating him as a friend in need. If he was running away from her, then she was treating herself as a failure since she couldn’t help him. As the Toucannon comforted her, the Snivy looked below her and felt remorse for the leader, who he assumed her role was.

“I’m sorry ma’am. But I don’t feel safe with you all around,” he signed to them, with nobody seeing his hidden hands. He jumped to another shelf before heard someone starting to sing. His thoughts were too clouded for him to decipher the lyrics. He found that it was the Fennekin with the purple ribbon singing the song. The song was of a different language, so he couldn’t understand it. But the way it rhymed and her singing voice was what enticed him. It was just right. He actually almost tripped, but avoided that mistake. He wasn’t falling for that trap, but he stayed on that shelf just to listen to it. When she finished, it felt complete to him. The Fennekin looked at the shelf, not aware of where he was.

“Hope you enjoy that, whoever you are,” she said to the Snivy, not knowing that she was looking at the shelf where he was.

_“_ _I did,”_ he signed to himself. The Fennekin bowed to herself and continued searching for him. It would’ve all been perfect for her, but then she bumped into a rack.

She immediately backed off while recovering, but the rack was vibrated at such a high intensity that it immediately began falling upon the next rack. The Snivy immediately jumped to the next rack, trying to avoid the collapsing racks. At the same moment, he saw that Nurse Chauncey had swung the door wide open. Now was his only chance to escape. The next rack struck his rack as he made his leap. He soared through the air as Sophie realized what was unfolding. The plan would’ve been executed, but then a jar of medicine struck him. He had no time to react as he was struck and hurtled at the next shelf. Thankfully, that rack didn’t fall down, but the force was strong enough to destroy his tail brace. But the last thing that added even more weight to his situation was that his tail was clipped to the rack now. He was stuck here in pain and now his last opportunity to escape vanished as the door closed.

Meanwhile, Hope, Sophie, and Rowan had no idea what happened as they avoided the collapsing racks. Three of them collapsed on each other before the chaos was over. This was a very interesting rescue scenario, even though they were not aware of the Snivy’s situation.

“Sorry about that,” Sophie apologized to them.

“That’s alright. Anyway, where is he?” Hope forgave her before returning back to normal. Her stress about the Snivy disappeared temporarily. Rowan immediately did a scan of the area before reporting his results.

“He is on that shelf, and he is stuck there,” Rowan spoke of his scan as he pointed to the shelf. The Snivy still was high enough where he couldn’t be seen, but Rowan still retained his eagle eyes. Hope took a look of the shelves, which were narrow and low.

“Sophie, you are the only who can get him,” Hope gave her verdict. Sophie wasn’t surprise by her verdict, since she was small and could talk to him. But how she would convince him out, she didn’t know how. These scenarios were new to her and she wasn’t the best at social skills. But the Snivy was about her age, so maybe it would work out.

She signed before speaking, “It will be an honor, ma’am.” She then began climbing up the shelves of the rack, careful to not knock down any rare medicines up there. And then, after three minutes of careful maneuvering, she had reached the shelf of where he was. It was only a little of pacing before she saw him. And from the outside, he seems alright. He was just trying to pull out his tail from the area it was stuck at, while being a little scared. But yet, she knew what was going inside of him.

He was very scared of the prospects of what could happen to him, misled by what traumatized him in the early years. If that was the case, then had he never had a single enjoyable moment in his life? Maybe that explained why he was running away. If he was away from all danger, then he could be safe for once. But she knew that was not the case. With his mind misled by the propaganda, he would just run from his false fears until **it happens.** Maybe she will have to provide him the happiness he needs.

“You need help?” she asked the Snivy. Immediately, the Snivy stopped what it was doing and curled himself on the ground, afraid of the Fennekin. He knew he was at the mercy of the fiery fox. He prepared for the worst. Sophie definitely felt stressed for the Snivy. Just how afraid was he?

“I know you are afraid of me...” she began, very careful of the words she used, “...but I am not here to pull you out of your fears.” The Snivy was surprised for her to say that. He knew she was different from the rest of the group, for she could sing and translate his hands, but what she said was interesting. He waited for her next sentence, though trying to back away further from her.

“I’m trying to see you as a friend.” Instead of a usual surprised expression, he was terrified of that word. To Sophie, it was an obvious indicator that someone wired his brain wrong.

_“_ _Friend bad,”_ the Snivy signed to her as he tried to get away from her. After he attempted to yank his tail one more time out of there, despite his lack of a brace, he just hung right there, ready for the end to come. He then felt a paw on his head accompanied with a concerned Fennekin.

“I know that’s how you think, but not all of them are bad,” Sophie continued on. He knew that argument was possible, but what about trustworthiness? “You just have to figure out which ones are not bad,” she finished. C-15 realized at this point that he had no clue what even a friend was. He was influenced by _them_ for so long that he associated friends with enemies. But now, this Fennekin was offering to help him piece together a definition. If this wasn’t _them_ , then he could take this risk for once. But yet, he freaked them out earlier. If they fitted into her definition of “friend,” then they were just trying to do their job. And he had failed them. Small tears began flowing his eyes. Sophie then hugged him after seeing the stroke of tears.

“Just let it all out,” she whispered to him, to which he decided to do so. To him, he was amazed of how the Fennekin just accepted him like this and her willingness to help him up. But one thing enticed him the most. For some reason, he felt safe and warm when he was in her grasp. He had no idea how to describe this feeling at all, but he knew this wasn’t something he felt at all within the facility. Either his mind had broke down at last, or maybe he was safe at last, in her paws. He let his emotions out, to which she still held on to him. After a minute, his tears dried up at last. Tear stains remain present on his face, but now he felt more comfortable around her.

“Now, may I help you remove that tail?” Sophie asked the Snivy. He didn’t trust her completely, but since whatever she did was unusual to him, he believed he would be fine. He nodded in response, but he still felt very nervous. Once she got her approval, Sophie went to the post where his tail was stuck at. She grabbed on to it and yanked it out. For a moment, C-15 shut his eyes as he felt a pinch before it disappeared. When he opened his eyes, his tail was no longer stuck. Even though it still ached from the broken bone, he could move around. He sort of made a bow gesture to thank the Fennekin. He was too nervous to say “Thank you.”

“Are you comfortable coming down?” Sophie then asked him. He didn’t what to respond with. He didn’t know who to trust down there, for the Emolga that attacked him was with the group. But yet, when he witnessed the Brionne stressing out over trying to find him, he actually felt remorse. It seems like she actually cares for him, but yet the Emolga was with them. He trembled in fear on trying to weigh his decision. He wished it didn’t have to be this hard, but all of this was new with him. His body became stiff and his vision sort of became clouded over the weight over his decision. Sophie realized that he was stressing out, to which she sat in front of him.

“I know you are afraid of them, but I know those two would protect you till the end. If they fall, then at least you would have me. We try to help others to the best of our abilities. Once you have fully healed, then you are free to leave. So, may I help you down to them?” she tried to reason while extending a paw to him. Even though this was probably a trick to get him down, her voice was very gentle to him, which was something he very rarely heard. And, she was the one that helped him out of there. Was this enough reason to trust her? _Yes? No?_

His hand extended out to her paw. _Yes._ She let his go and she began helping him maneuver down the shelves. When Sophie got down to a lower shelf, she helped the Snivy down to her. But on the shelf where the others could reach, Sophie got down as usual, but before he could start going down, his limp tail hit a poll, to which he collapsed to the next shelf, right beside Sophie. His tail would definitely hurt for a long time. Sophie immediately rushed to him.

“Are you okay?!” she panicked as she pull him.

_“_ _Tail not fine,”_ he replied barely, for now his hands are now trembling a lot from the fear, and he wasn’t doing alright in his mind, with all of the pain overwhelming him. As Sophie tried to figure out how she was going to help him up, Hope and Rowan came over.

“We’ll take over from here, Sophie. _Thank you,”_ Hope spoke to her as she picked up the Snivy. Still, there were tear stains on her face from the time she was stressing out, but she had seemed to regain her cool. Sophie just nodded back to her, while still being concerned for the safety of him. After everything had been assured by Sophie, they began walking over back to the main patient room. Hope knew that the Snivy couldn’t be emotionally attached to them at all, so she was careful on the way she carried him. She held him like a hug, since she managed to see Sophie give one to him. But, this hug was more gentle with the fragile Snivy, like a mother’s hug. But the Snivy never felt a thing. The pain overcame his mind before he was even picked up.

* * *

 

Time seemed to pass for a while in his mind. Every time he was asleep, he would always be here in the void, watching the time tick down until it came morning. Except in most cases, he was unconscious. In those scenarios, the memories would just flash back from what occurred recently. For what happened earlier, the most flashed back memory was the strange interaction with the Fennekin. He had no idea what she was doing as she wrapped her paws around him, pulling him tightly in. Yet when she did that, he felt warm and safe with her paws. It was something definitely new to him, and he liked it. Now he just had to figure out what it was. But after thinking about it for a while, he managed to come up with something. _Hugs… I like hugs._

Once he figured out the connection, his mind slowly began to regain conscious. Right now, he could only hear voices, but that was enough to decide what was going on.

“Should we talk to her?” he could recognize Nurse Chauncey.

“Just give her some space,” he heard the Brionne say.

“But she has been watching him for an hour!”

“That is the sign of a good _friend_ ; someone who checks to see if you are okay.” He heard that word again: _friend._ He would just accept that statement as a fact, for it seems similar with what the Fennekin said earlier. But wait, she was watching him. If that is the sign of a friend, then that was dedication. And yet, she had barely knew him. Why would she make a friend out of someone she barely knew? _Good question…_

By now, conscious had returned to his body. His eyes slowly rose up to see where he was. The first thing that he saw was the Fennekin, resting right next to him, looking deeply worried about him. He realized that he was on his straw bed again, with a new tail brace installed on him. He could see Nurse Chauncey and the Brionne discussing outside the patient room. But, they didn’t seem to be noticing the outside world now. He had no idea how long it has been since he first went unconscious. From the looks of the windows, it was the afternoon. For how long did the Fennekin worried for him? Should he feel sorry for her? He could move a bit since the tail brace had significantly reduced the pain from his broken tail. He spotted a stick near him, so he reached out for it and nudged then Fennekin a bit. He had never seen someone’s eyes move so fast.

“C-15?” she immediately asked him. He was quick for a response to her.

“ _I’m still not fine,_ ” he signed to him, but that was enough for her. She immediately jumped up and gave him a crushing hug, with a smile on her face. The hug definitely hurt for him, but there came the sensation again; the one he enjoyed. He decided to hug back. For several seconds, they held that position as they both enjoyed the hug, knowing that they were both okay. Sophie knew when the hug would hurt him, to which she settled him back to the ground. He now truly had the definition of a friend, and she definitely fitted it.

“I wished you would stop running off. You always keep freaking out Hope,” she asked him as she provided more information to him.

“ _I tried, but Emolga..._ ” he signed before dreading off. He didn’t want to be reminded of him again.

“Oh Ivo? Don’t worry, Hope has already teared him apart for his actions,” Sophie assured him. At least it was good news. But he still was concerned for himself.

“ _But, even without him, I trembled every time I tried to explain further,”_ he explained to her.

“You don’t have to give the whole truth right now. We, mainly me, will try to make you as comfortable as possible about the whole process. You can give the truth when you are ready,” Sophie explained to him as she smiled. _When you are ready…_ That was a new concept to him. Back in the facility, _they_ would have translation devices and when you are questioned for something, you would have to give the truth, no matter the circumstances. But now, with him adjusting to whatever they did here now, he definitely wasn’t ready to speak to them. He can’t believe things were way better here. Maybe this was a place to stay at after all. But no matter what, the memories of the facility held on to him like a parasite. He now wanted to be rid of them, but he couldn’t chose no matter what. All of the days of torture and experimentation and the scars would haunt him forever. He grabbed his identification scarf, the only physical thing he could see that was from that place, and stared at it. He sighed as he tried to resist the memories of that scarf.

“Does that name, C-15 bother you?” Sophie then asked him, knowing that scarf had his identification number on it. At that moment, he realized that C-15 was his name also. Everyone called him that or C for short back then. He hated being called that since he was given very inhumane nicknames from it. He was abused from it, tortured with it, and it was his record, forever…

“ _Definitely,”_ he signed as a tear came down from his thoughts. Sophie knew that she had triggered a memory within him, explaining the teardrop. She knew she touched very sensitive material, but she just wanted to help him overcome them. _And she knew the beginning step._

“Do you want to change it?” she asked him. He hadn’t even considered trying to replace that name. It was permanent for him. Or was it? He had no idea what to call himself though, but if it could stop more memories flooding in and make it easier to communicate with him.

“ _Yes, but don’t know how,”_ he signed as a reply. Once Sophie received that message, she ran off to the other room where Hope and the others were. A minute later, she returned with a book in her mouth. She dropped it near where he was.

“Let’s get into it,” Sophie said in excitement as she began opening the book. C-15 only gave her a nervous look.

_“_ _What on Arceus does this say?_ ” he asked her. He couldn’t read anything at all due to the lack of education back at the facility.

“You can’t read?” Sophie asked him then. He nodded in response. Sophie added this information to her mental notes, definite evidence of child neglect and abuse. But no time for that. She wanted to help him find a more suitable name for him.

“Then, which letter do you like the most?” Sophie asked him, hoping it would help narrow down the entries in the book. This was an unusual question to the Snivy. What kind of letter would he like the most? He hated all of the vowels and C definitely, so they were out. To simplify things, he eliminated the first few and last few letters in the alphabet. After about a minute of thinking, he had narrowed it down to Q, J, R, and S. The R he liked since it seems like something was coming out of the P, but it felt too strange, so he eliminated that one. Since S was like a snake, which he sort of was, he liked that one. The Q was one of the least used letters, and since he was a rare case within this world, it would’ve fit him. Eventually, he decided to eliminate that one since he didn’t know any names that started with Q. And lastly, there was something about the J that made him ticked for some reason. It was very unique, yet it wasn’t entirely rare.

“ _J,”_ he answered. Once Sophie heard that answer, she flipped to the J section of the book. She then began reading random words in the book to him, to which he either nodded or shook his head. When there are no words left, then they went to the next page. And they kept up the reading for the next ten minutes. But, there would be a name that he would accept. But eventually, they would find one. Sophie stumbled upon a name in the book.

“Jovi?” she asked him. Honestly, he was getting tired of rejecting names. At least this one would work out for him. He nodded in response for the first time since the session began. “Alright, _Jovi the Snivy._ ” She pulled a marker out and on his scarf, she wrote “Jovi” on it. It was one he could live on for a while. _Jovi…_ It was around this time that the adults actually noticed and came over.

“See you already made a friend,” Hope gleamed in happiness to Jovi. He didn’t expect them to come over, to which his head made a defensive gesture. Sophie noticed this, to which she stood by Jovi. Hope then knew she shouldn’t talk to him for a while.

“Anyway, how is he doing?” she asked Sophie.

“Well, he is improving, but he isn’t ready to speak yet. But, we managed to give him a name: Jovi,” she answered her question.

“Alright, and now I must say something to Jovi,” Hope continued on as she turned to him. She then put her flipper behind her.

“Sorry about earlier. Ivo is a bit difficult to control, but proper measures are being put here now. We honestly try to treat you and others like a regular Pokemon. I know you are not ready to speak yet, but we’ll try our best to make you feel welcome, okay?” Hope gave her short speech. Jovi heard something similar from the Fennekin, though now he was dealing with the leader of the group. He definitely freaked her out earlier, so he wanted to say yes to her. He managed to give a thumbs-up to her.

“Thank you. Anyway team, we must get going,” she called everyone. That also included Ivo, who came out of the other room while shooting a glare at Jovi. He looked nervous to him, but eventually, he walked away thankfully. Eventually, Jovi and Sophie were standing alone together.

“Hope I can see you again,” he said to him.

“ _Hopefully, yes,”_ he replied.

“Anyway, see ya!” she said one last time before she began jumping away. That fox was friendly and caring to him. Wait a second, why was he referring her fox. _I never learned her name!_ He managed to extend one of his shoulder vines to touch her, to which she stopped to look at him.

“ _What’s your name?_ ” he asked her. She gave him one last smile as she stared at him.

“It’s Sophie, by the way,” she said before she jumped away. In less than five seconds, she was gone. Now, it was feeling lonely for Jovi. He just made his first friend, but she had to disappear for whatever group she was part of. Despite this, at least he stopped running away from people and actually tried communicating with others. The memories of the facility would stay with him forever, but at least he had friends like Sophie to speak to. But now with her gone, he needed to do something as he wait for her to come back here. That’s when he realized the obvious solution. _Most Pokemon can read, so I should probably teach himself._

Thankfully, there was a bookshelf that contained several books that was within the distance of his vines. Using his vines, he grabbed the smallest book on the shelf and brought it back to him. He then open it up to a bunch of things he can’t recognize at all. It looked daunting to him, but he managed to escape the facility and a white storm, so trying to figure out how to read wouldn’t hurt. Boy, this is going to be a long night.

 

_A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, this chapter is finished at last. I can’t believe how long it took me to complete this chapter. Some days, I was writing less than 10 words, to days with 1k+ words. But now, it is done. To wrap it up, Jovi managed to name himself with the help of his new friend, Sophie the Fennekin.
> 
> Anyway, leave your review down so I can figure out whenever to continue or not. Anyway, good night. 8 thousand words oh my god why?
> 
> (6/9/2019)


	4. Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (6/25/2019)  
> So, long time, no see. Well, time for me to write this once more. No reviews I guess. Let’s just make the choice to do so.

**(Jovi’s POV)**

 

_Five days_ _can pass_ _by easily by_ _just reading._ Generally, most people would go nuts if they could only read during that time. But for disabled patients, it’s the only thing that can pass the time as they recover. For Jovi the Snivy, this was no different at all. There was a brace attached to his tail after that tree during the white storm fell on top of him, limiting his movement. And there was another problem. He couldn’t figure out how to read. The explanation was simple. The lack of education that was within the underground world of the facility. Oh, the hell of the nightmares he got from that place. After successfully escaping it, he almost died in a white storm and from a shelf in a clinic.

But all of that was in the past five days ago. At least he made it somewhere that wasn’t _there._ But he still couldn’t read. The issue was brought up when he was trying to figure out a name to get rid of **C-15** with Sophie the Fennekin. As far as he knew and trusted, she was his only friend according to his definition for it. Since he couldn’t read, she had to manually read out every word until she read one that he accepted. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for them to find one. And soon enough, he adopted _Jovi_ as his official name. Even though Sophie was willing to help him, he didn’t really want her to read everything every single time, even if that was the only day she showed up. So, he decided to figure out the craft of reading to himself.  
  
Over the days, he had managed to figure out how to read every letter in the alphabet and being able to read simple sentences. Most children would’ve taken weeks to figure it out, but when you have 10 hours each day that you have no idea what to do, that seems like a logical idea to do. To which he kept at it, and over time, he could read short stories. He still felt a bit disadvantaged compared to others, but at least he felt like he was slowly bringing himself to where he wasn’t a burden to others.

But yet, he was still oblivious to the outside world as he went through the books today. For example, he didn’t what day was it. Did it matter to him at all? For now, he didn’t really need the time, but what if someone asked him for the day and he didn’t know? Would he be looked down upon for not knowing basic facts? No, no time to worry about that yet. He was still recovering with a broken tail still. No worries for that yet, hopefully.

Today was just peaceful as the few days before. He was just sitting there with the small book in his hands, with the support of his vines. Nurse Chauncey felt like it would be easier for him to reach the bookshelf by moving it closer to him. And it definitely helped him due to his broken tail, so he appreciated it, despite what happened on the first day. It seems like the chaos was finally dying down at last in his life after escaping _them._ The clouds finally cleared up after the white storm, allowing for him to see the sun for the first time in his life. But when he was in the sunlight that morning, his skin felt very tingly, then he felt a brace of energy within him. It eased his pains, which he found calming for him. This allowed him to concentrate more on his reading, which seems to slightly get easier for every book he read. Today finally felt a bit more normal for him. But over in the distance, on the mountain that he definitely remembered running from that night, a lone tower stood there on the top.

It was about 2/5 of the height of the mountain, so definitely tall. It leaned in to the middle to the core, then a long piece of metal extended up to it’s maximum height. It was such a strange object on that mountain that it seems that no Pokemon could’ve built it. Only… _oh no._ He now knew what exactly it was. Two months ago, when he was being transported to a different area for experimentation, he saw two of _them_ overlooking some sort of blue paper. He couldn’t read it at the time, but there was a drawing on it that looked strikingly similar to the tower on the mountain. They likely built it a long time ago, but what purpose did it served? They always said that everything had a purpose, so what did that tower do?

Jovi decided that it wasn’t worth his time. He faced down towards the book he was reading currently. As he continued reading it though, he got a nagging feeling that something was happening up there on the tower. He couldn’t pinpoint it at all what it was. But why was he concern about it at all. And then, his mind just totally collapsed.

The pain immediately let him collapsed to the ground, due to it being unbearable. But that wasn’t the only thing that he had to comprehend with this. He felt that his eye was twitching, like it was scanning for scanning. He tried resisting, but his eye continued. What the hell was going on?! He tried lifting himself up, but that was no good. His body was just so weak right now to do anything. His eye just continued twitching out until at last, it stopped. Seriously, what was happening to him. How was he losing control of himself?

_“_ _We are always here...”_ that voice spoke again in his head. It was the same one that downplayed him those days ago. But that sentence... it made no sense. Who is always there? That voice was always in his mind, everywhere he go. He had heard it before back within the facility, and it always downplayed him no matter what. Was he losing it? _Wait…_ What if it wasn’t him that wasn’t doing it? If it wasn’t him, then who was doing it? _Could it be them?_ At that moment, the puzzle piece clicked in his damaged mind. But at the same time, he collapsed again, consuming his mind into the black void once more. And the dreams welcomed him back to hell.

* * *

 

_For this hell of a dream, he was inside of some sort of chamber along with six others, crowded together._ _He remembered this one_ _seven_ _years ago._ _This was the One._ _There in the gray chamber, he stared competently at them, who were at the other side of the chamber, watching them to see what would result._ _For a minute, nothing happened as the Pokemon walked across the crowded chamber._ _But the fun was about to begin for them._

_“_ _Begin,” he heard the one in the white laboratory suit,_ _with the blonde hair._ _As soon as the dark haired girl flicked the levers across, there began_ _hell._ _A giant swarm of invisible gas began filling the inside of the chamber._ _He took one whiff of it, and it was enough to began corroding his lungs._ _Immediately, he held his breath along with the others._ _But everyone’s limits could only go so far._ _The first one to fall was the Eevee._ _Shortly after, the Totodile fell along with the Braixen._ _They all fell one by one._ _And Jovi was the one who witnessed them all._ _But when he began slowly breathing it in, he was still standing up, but he didn’t know._ _His mind began panicking, wondering if the gas was attacking something else._ _But at last, the experiment ended as the gas was vented out._ _He remembered the scientists grabbing all before he lost unconscious._ _He remembered that the next morning, he tried speaking to others, but he could barely speak anything without feeling a great deal of pain in his throat._ _He will always remember that day when he was cursed by the inability to speak._ _Jovi remembered that his first reaction was to cry, before they pushed him away back into where everyone else was._ _Only three others left the chamber alive._

* * *

 

As his conscious slowly came back to him, he was crying on the floor, remembering that day. He always tried to forget that day, but that memory would always be a part of him forever, no matter what as long as his vocals remained damaged to him. But then, he felted a paw touch him before he was lifted up. And then as soon as he was lifted up, eh saw who it was. Sophie the Fennekin came back…

“Jovi?” she asked him, concerned. But as soon as Jovi saw her face, he immediately hugged to try coping with his tears. Sophie was confused for a bit, but then remembered about his current emotional state. So, she hugged back in return. “It’s okay. I’m here for you,” she said in her gentle voice. And it was true she came back for her. The search and rescue around Serene Town only cleared up once all of the snow melted, to which she decided to visit the only person they ever found. Eventually, Jovi decided to let her go, to which she did the same.

“Have you been doing okay alone?” she asked him, concerned about his state.

_“_ _Yes, until now,”_ he signed to her, to which she understood. She tried giving him another hug, but he refused, to which she obeyed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked him. Jovi’s eyes were just filled with sorrow at that moment.

_“_ _It stills feels too personal,”_ he answered back in hands, while expressing that he is definitely not ready.

“Then is there anything you can share with me?” she asked, hoping that there is a bit of information that he is willing to disclose. She just want to see if she can begin helping him out of where he came from.

Jovi nodded to her, for there was one detail that he felt okay to share with her. She turned her head around to the window and he pointed to the outside world, while focusing on the tower on the lonely mountain.

“The Kelbo Tower?” she asked, for his hand was a bit shaking as he was pointing there. He nodded in return. “What about the tower? Is it where you came from?” she continued asking, wondering if the location would help him start things off.

Jovi heard the words of where. He didn’t feel like wanting to give the location, for what his answer would be something totally bonkers to most people. He was hesitant a bit, wondering if Sophie would accept this as an answer. As he decided whenever or not to saw, Sophie put her paw on him.

“It’s okay if you don’t speak. I know you are not ready yet,” she smiled at him as she spoke. That was reassuring for him, knowing that he wasn’t force to say the answer. He could do it under his own terms.

_“_ _Thank you. Also, it’s underneath the towe_ _r,”_ as he used his hand to point it down. It felt like a weight was finally removed from his mind. It made him less stressful at least. Sophie would probably never understand, but only he would know what went underground.

“So you come from the _unknowns?”_ Sophie finally asked, for there was a unique case of a different Pokemon coming from there all of those years ago. She refused to say anything, but her brother managed to describe some things about there. As far as she knew, it was a terrifying place down there. Most Pokemon that traverse there never return, so that Pokemon’s and Jovi’s case were extremely unusual for the Society. But they were willing to help out all of them, no matter what.

“ _Whatever that means, yes,”_ he signed back as an answer, though a bit quivering. At this point, he felt a bit overwhelmed by the questions, but at least one of the major ones got answered. Also, by the way she described it, this means this wasn’t the first time this has happened. Were there other Pokemon that had managed to escape the same hell he did? He could only recall one other breakout they had, a few days before the _incident._ Only an Umbreon and two Charmanders escaped that day. If there were more out there, then could he meet them possibly? But at this point, he was sort of stuttering.

“You may stop now,” Sophie said to him. Jovi complied, for he felt that that was enough information he could get out before he constantly thought about that place. But yet at the same time, he felt like that wasn’t enough information. But, it seems like Sophie knew a bit more about that place, so at least she knew where to start.

“Was there anything else you want me to show?” she asked. Jovi actually nodded, for there was one more thing he did. He grabbed the nearest book and pointed at it.

“So you learned how to read?” she asked. He nodded in response. “You are a fast learner then, and smart also,” she complimented him. He knew what they meant, but he had never been called them, for they always talked down upon him. But Sophie was the first that actually said something positive about him. He sort of blushed in response.

_“_ _Thank you?”_ he responded sort of embarrassed, while trying to cover them up. Sophie just gave him a smile as Nurse Chauncey walked over.

“Okay, it seems you are strong enough to leave today. Just try to not get into combat for the next week, okay?” She gave him the news before walking away to someone else. To Jovi, it signals the end of being safe for a while. Now, he will have to return to the wilderness and try to survive in there. He didn’t have to deal with the storms anymore, but he didn’t know how to fight at all. He was stammering, with nowhere to go at all. _No, he will have to make the best of it._

_“_ You have anywhere to go?” Sophie asked her, becoming concerned of his erratic movement. To her, it seems like Jovi was trying to figure what to do next, now that he no longer needed to be here to recover. But, it seems like he had nowhere to go. From what he said he came from, he didn’t want to return there. Either he was kicked out, or he left.

“ _No,”_ he basically answered with his hand before going back to his erratic actions. Well, there was a reason she came down here. She wanted to see how he was doing, but it seems like his life is going to go downhill again.

“Well, you can accompany with me and the others, since we are about to leave,” she gave him an offer. As soon as she said that, she felt a hug from the Snivy. She definitely saw a smile on his face, so guess it worked. He spoke with his hands once more once he let go.

“ _Why are you always nice to me?”_ he had tears of joy in his eyes.

“Well, I’m just trying to jump-start your new life,” she answered. Even though she barely knew what happened to him in his previous life, she knew it was definitely a place where he felt unwanted.She felt like if she provided him with opportunities to grow, then eventually, he would forget the past and move on. And it seems to have started doing its work. His mood had obviously started improving and this was the first smile she had seen on him.

_“So…_ _should we leave?”_ Jovi signed to her. She just nodded to him. It was indeed time for them to leave. Jovi, despite being weaker, opened the doors for them to leave. But once they stepped outside, it felt cold to him. It wasn’t exactly cold, but he had never experienced this temperature before. Once outside, Jovi started shivering within the strange climate. He was definitely uncomfortable underneath the strange weather. But then, he felt a strange feeling of warmth, but outside? This didn’t make any sense. He looked down, and he saw Sophie was placing a plain, cyan scarf around his neck.

“There, better now?” she asked him. The scarf definitely wasn’t his cursed old, red one. That one was his identification back in the facility. He only used it to survive the storm a few days ago. He definitely didn’t want to go back to that hell. Although, he still felt embarrassed that he had to be helped through all of this stuff, due to where he came from. He still had a lot to learn from this world and Sophie. Thank goodness this isn’t a kill or be killed world. Once she tied up the scarf, they continued on. Jovi reminded himself of how to much to appreciate Sophie.

The forest was more beautiful without the snow. Even though none of the life had grown on there yet, it was at least better than what he had to deal with. It was perfectly calm, with nothing ready to take the small Pokemon. The only thing that Jovi focused on was the mountain in the distance. The mountain with the Kelbo Tower. Now he was getting a headache just from staring at the mountain. He kept trying that he was trying to adjust to his new life, but every time he tried to think of something different, it brought him back to the tower, and the place underneath. Sophie noticed Jovi in distress again.

“Is it the tower again?” she asked him. He just plainly nodded, though he didn’t really feel like disclosing any information right now. Although, he would listen to what she would say.

“I know it will be hard, trying to let go of all of those memories, but I know that eventually, once you had a grasp of happiness in this world, then you can let go of all of it.” Jovi reflected upon what she said. The only happy memory he would ever remember was the time a Pokemon went by his identification number, **C-15**. The other Pokemon just called him names worse than any swore he had heard _them_ say. He hated his identity, but not being called that was something, because he had gained the respect of a Pokemon. The next day was the first break-out, the one where he couldn’t escape. He never heard from her again. It would be a while before he could adjust to everything here, but with someone willing to help him through the process, he would be able to create some happy thoughts quickly.

“You’re not the _only_ one that had to experience the pain,” immediately, her tone went a sharp turn. Immediately, she was silent. Sophie was hiding something also. Despite how strange that went, at least he wasn’t the only one that had to go through pain. But, now he felt a bit concerned for her. As soon as she said that, she stopped and started shaking. It seems like she was going through her own vicious cycles. When he went through the same cycle, he at least was alone, with no one watching him suffering. But, watching someone else suffer was a whole new level. He was actually terrified of her for a second, but then realized this was her, just going through the same thing as he did before. Though after a minute of her stuttering, he decided to wave at her to see if she was alright. Eventually, she noticed him.

“Oh, sorry about that. It rarely happens,” she acknowledged before she began walking off. That definitely questioned Jovi. She was trying to deal with a flashback, and yet she just shrugged it off? Wonder what she had been through then. But to Jovi, it was best if he didn’t speak of it yet. He didn’t feel comfortable confronting her about it, especially when he just became a friend with her. But thankfully, he would take that off his mind very quickly, for the yelling of an Brionne became familiar on both of there minds.

“Sophie! Where are you?” Hope yelled out for her in the barren woods. Sophie was quick to respond.

“Coming! I brought Jovi with us!” Sophie yelled back at her from the distance. She then began running. Jovi had to continue walking due to his tail brace, but he didn’t mind. Sophie of course reached Hope first.

“Hello there Sophie! Where is he?” Hope asked her.

“He’s walking over here, since he can’t run,” Sophie told her. As she was saying that, Jovi was visible in the distance, with his cyan scarf on his neck. And he was actually smiling for once. Even better was the absence of the Emolga.

“Hello Jovi!” Hope waved to him. Jovi waved back at her, knowing that he couldn’t talk to her normally. Jovi didn’t trust her exactly yet, but he was fine with Sophie around. He looked at everyone in the group, which consisted of him, Sophie, Brionne, and Rowan the Toucannon. It was interesting, knowing that he would likely be with them for a long while. “I apologize for my behavior that day. I just... have never dealt with the behavior like yours before, not that you are a problem. So this time around, I will make things right, okay?” She definitely had remorse in her eyes. Jovi never really got an apology before, but he had seen _them_ being beaten up by others, despite them apologizing. They were the only times he felt remorse for them. Since most of the Pokemon he have met so far were friendly, guess he would take it.

_“_ _It’s fine. I don’t know what was going on anyway,”_ he signed as the truth. The Fennekin gave her his answer and she just smiled.

“Alright then. Ready to head down to Lively Town?” she asked him. That place he had never heard of before. Concerned, he asked Sophie.

“ _Lively_ _T_ _own?”_ he signed the question to her.

“You’ll see,” she answered with a smile. After that, they began walking off.

This was definitely a big change on his part. For once, he was actually afraid of it. But yet, he had come so far. He had finally escaped that hell, got aid, and made his first friend ever. All of this were beneficial to him, and he actually liked Sophie as a friend. Was he ready to enter a new life? _Yes._ He readjusted his scarf before he joined the others.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND FINALLY, I got a new chapter out exactly one month from the previous one. Sorry for the long wait, I was busy recovering from a stressful May and June, but at last, it is done. See you next time.  
> (7/9/2019)


End file.
